Make you some hive stands with legs, strong, but small enough to fit in a 3 lb coffee or a large can that vegetables and fruit comes in. Check with local restaurants, they should have them. set the legs of the stand in the can and fill about half full of old used moter oil. :)d2

Had fire ants climbing mine. The cinnamon worked for about a day. Tried putting vaseline on the legs. That always worked to keep them off the hummingbird feeder but the ants build an ant bridge of dead ants and walked across the vaseline. I ended up waiting until after the bees had gone in for the night and then sprayed home defence on just the bottom of the legs of the stand. That was the only way I could get rid of them. Didn't want to spray but it was the only way for me to get rid of them. And there were a lot of them.

Was going to do the tin can and vegetable oil thing but we have had over 5 inches of rain since Friday. But will be trying it next time.

I use a product called 'Ant Rid' here (Active ingredient is Boron). Its a syrupy liquid that they apparently take back to the nest to wipe out the source rather than just the foragers. I put it straight down the holes so theres no chance the bees will get into it and it has worked great.

what happens with ants, and in what area? I have always heard the ants in other parts of the US can get a bit nasty, fire ants/etc. but here in Michigan I didn't think they were a issue. Is it just certain types of ants? What do the ants do? Can the bees defend themselves typically?

what happens with ants, and in what area? I have always heard the ants in other parts of the US can get a bit nasty, fire ants/etc. but here in Michigan I didn't think they were a issue. Is it just certain types of ants? What do the ants do? Can the bees defend themselves typically?

In So Cal we have small black argentinian ants. Hives need some kind of moat to keep them out. I built my hive stand to include a 1/2 inch sheet of plywood that extends about 4 inches out from the hive boxes. This is to reduce the likelyhood of water getting in the oil jars. But then again we don't get REAL rainstorms here. If it rains it's mostly sprinkles. I tell people "It's not raining, you can still see across the street!"

but here in Michigan I didn't think they were a issue. Is it just certain types of ants? What do the ants do? Can the bees defend themselves typically?

Yeah the bees can defend their hives from our ants, but they are a real pain in the butt if you use any low density foam in your bee keeping. Those ants LOVE to tunnel through low density foam. I still don't have a great solution for that problem yet. :(

The outbuilding where I keep my unused supers is now getting hammered by the big black carpenter ants. I want to use some pesticide to wipe them out however i am reluctant since the ants are going to and from my supers. If I do use something to kill the ants - what's the possibility that they contaminate my honey supers? I don't really know what they're going after since the bees pretty much cleaned them out last fall....

I know one thing that works to kill ants is get 20 mule team borax, and some jam. mix 1 scoop of borax to 10 of jam and mix it really good and let it sit out, or put smaller globs in different places. borax I believe also kills hive beetles too so yay I guess..... I used to mix piles of this in AZ to get rid of ants there. not sure how it effects bees though honestly, or if bees will be around your shed.

I found a small bottle with a fitting cork and put some sugar in it. After soaking the sugar with Ant-Rid I cut a small chunk out of the cork, just big enough for a small black ant. I placed the bottle on its side beside the ant-trail leading to the hive (they had been lured by the sugar I was feeding my bees) and heaped a bit of dirt around it. Put a handy leaf on top of the bottle and stuck half a brick on that to stop any bees going after the sweetness. It worked well for ants over here. :-D

I like the idea of borax and jam.... going to try that. I think they are going into the supers for the sweetness of the residual honey so this should do the trick. btw - I hate carpenter ants.... They are the worstDavid

I wrap the posts of my hive stands with mason's line , tight with no space between wraps for 4 inches. I then smear "TANGLE FOOT " all around it. I then place a cylinder made of 1/4 hardware clotharound it about 4 inches out. The hardware cloth keeps leaves off the Tangle foot and bees off it. Every 3-5 days I pull on the twine , exposing fresh Tangle foot. When I get to the end of the string I apply more and slowly wind twine back on. This lasts about 4 windings / un windings till I scrape and repeat. Why are ants a problem and not uncles?